Hitman: An Inherited Business
by AFishCalledMonty
Summary: Sequel to my Hitman trilogy. Seren is all grown up. On a visit back to the family for Christmas she is dismayed to learn her parents might not be as retired as they claim to be. Through a series of events she is thrust back into a world she thought she'd escaped. Now she has two choices: turn her back on her family or use her unique skills to help them. Language, violence
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hey all, yes, yes I know. I am still alive. It has been a loooong old time but I've finally been sucked back in. Couldn't help but continue the adventures of the family I made two years ago, and also couldn't wait to share. I just had to get this prologue up to tease you all and also see how many of you are up for going on this crazy journey called writing with me again. Anyway, I'll leave you all to read, review and enjoy! :)**

Prologue

Christmas had always been an odd time of year for me. As a kid I used to love the season; the countryside growing bleak and beautiful, Mum making the first fire of the year in the stove, my father actually being around for once. He had little choice in the matter, as far as my mum was concerned, Christmas was sacred and not even the former world's greatest assassin got to slip out on it. The best moment was when the snow finally came – although it happened less and less as the years went on – blanketing the farm in a pure white layer of magic. I could still remember the first time we went out, before my brother was born, and had a snowball fight in the woods. I beat my father. It was a memory I cherished for a long time.

Now, the time of year provoked a weighty sense of apprehension to settle in my gut. I kept glancing at the clock in my room willing time to slow down as I packed my suitcase reluctantly. When I had first left home at 10 to go to boarding school I had cried and cried. Messy tears that soaked into my mum's jumper as she rubbed my back soothingly, telling me it would be alright. I could tell from her voice she had been holding back tears too. She tried to be tough but she was a softy deep down. My father on the contrary stood off to one side, his expression firm and unyielding, much like the rare hugs he gave me. His words of encouragement comprised of a clipped and emotionless, 'Come on. The bus is leaving.' This had earned a stern look from my mum but she had prised me off her anyway and sent me stumbling towards the waiting school bus.

Since that day, leaving had been easier and easier, not least because of the school that became my home and the difference in my reception when I returned to the farm. When I had gone through the rigors of the education system and come out the other side, moving away seemed like the only option. Besides, what was there to do in the middle of the Welsh countryside for a professionally trained musician?

Unable to stall any longer, I closed my case and locked up my small apartment situated in the heart of Vienna. I gave one last longing look at my piano forte rammed in the corner before heaving a heavy sigh and shutting the door behind me. I would have to move quickly now to get to the airport on time, or risk missing my flight. The idea was partially attractive to me but I knew any attempt to dupe my family into thinking I had no way of getting home would only resort in the cavalry begin called. The cavalry being my mum going full MI6 on me and getting Uncle Charlie to whisk me home in his private jet.

My case bounced enthusiastically behind me as I dragged it over the historic cobblestones past the Hofburg Palace. The winter sun was bright, and made the white stone of the grand building glow in all it's splendour. I weaved my way through several groups of tourists all here for the Christmas markets, staring up in awe at it. A pang of envy spiked through my chest as I felt my brow pull down in a scowl. I'd have given anything to stay here, but the philharmonic was done for the season and they only kept a small group for the Christmas conservatoires. There was rarely any need for a pianist in a quartet. More's the pity.

My flat was located above a small, boutique bakery. A pinch for the location but still eye-wateringly expensive in the grand scheme of things. I was in walking distance of the Opera house and had the best view in the city, looking out over the Hofburg with Demel's the famous coffee house opposite. My parents had offered many times to pay for my apartment but the thought of excepting the money they had earnt from god knows what avenue in the past made me shudder. Sometimes I wondered if I was overreacting to what they were, or more specifically, what I had been made to be, but then I remembered some of things I had seen and done I when I was only 7. They were retired now of course; Mum now an award-winning photographer and my father a Security advisor to some large corporations. However, I still felt the need to distance myself from the family, except when I had to visit.

Reaching the main street, I flagged down a taxi and with a few hurried instructions in German I bundled myself into the warmth of the cab. As the now familiar sights of Vienna rushed past me to give way to the more urban edges leading up to the airport, I leant back in my seat and closed my eyes. Bracing myself for the awkward reunion to come.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Thank you for those who have reviewed to tell me they are looking forward to this story. I'll tell you a secret, come closer, this was originally going to be a one shot showing the kids grown up and family life but then I thought no. Seren deserves her own story to shine, and so here we are. I hope you are as excited as I am for this adventure to start so without anymore waffling I'll leave you all to read, review and enjoy! :) **

Chapter 1

My mum's voice reached me through the gate first.

'There she is. I see her!'

I trudged out of customs, my bag rumbling behind me, a pained expression on my face as I saw my mum waving animatedly at me over the heads of other people waiting for their loved ones. She had a wide beaming smile on her face, her dark brown hair shot through with fine streaks of grey was pulled back into a messy bun. The corner of my mouth twitched at the sight of her chaotic welcome, a smile forcing its way through despite my sour mood. Then my gaze fell on the two figures stood next to her and the smile died on my lips.

My father was easy to spot, towering over most of the gathered people. The first thing you always noticed, after his imposing height of course, was his eyes. Two brilliant chips of ice, gleaming in his subtly age lined face. They bored into me, as if reading my mind and I suddenly felt 7 years old again. He had never raised his voice to me as a child, all it had taken to quell any tantrum or naughty episode I was going through was a long hard stare. It unnerved me to this day that one of my defining features was those very same eyes. That and my extremely pale skin.

He glanced down briefly at the other person stood next to him, his mouth moving as he answered something they were saying. My attention was drawn to them automatically and I saw my brother for the first time in a year. And how had he grown. He now only stood a foot shorter than my father. His thick mop of curly brown hair reaching the others ear level. They both wore the same stoic expression, and both had their arms crossed across their broad chests but apart from the that they were as different as chalk and cheese.

Where my brother boasted a full head of hair, my dad was completely bald. Always had been. Where my father's eyes were piercing and unique, my brother's were a warm shade of muddy brown. And where my father's face was all angles and well-defined lines, my brother had a smooth, rounded face, some of the baby fat still evident around the cheeks. My brother was definitely a Williams, whereas – for obvious reasons – I was completely a Rieper.

I moved towards the odd family grouping, my mood darkening with each step. As I came to a wary stop in front of them I came under attack from my mum, who launched herself at me, enveloping me into a bear hug. There was a brief moment of alarm where I instinctually wanted to react to her unexpected advance; my brain kicked into overdrive calculating the exact force I should need to floor her instantly. I felt my muscles tense and a pure shot of adrenaline flood my system but I was just able to rein it at the last second and let the contact happen. I was acutely aware however of my father's knowing, and disapproving gaze as he caught the movement.

'Cariad, my cariad. It's so good to see you.' Her voice was muffled as she spoke into my shoulder. It seemed out of all of us, my mum's height genes had remained stubbornly with her. With Rhydian's sudden growth spurt it looked like she would spend the rest of her life looking up to see our faces. Despite my dour mood a budding warmth began to spread in my stomach at my mother's loving embrace. She finally let go and held me at arm's length to see me better. Her kind round face beaming up at me.

'You look exhausted. Beth ydych chi wedi bod yn ei fwyta?' _What have you been eating? _I sighed dramatically at her motherly concern and answered in a peeved tone.

'Mwy nag y dylwn I fod, ma.' _More than I should be, ma._

It felt alien to be speaking welsh again. It had been a year since I was last home and I had no reason to use it in Vienna. Suddenly I felt even more displaced than before; and as my mum herded us out of the airport and towards the car I hung back feeling like an outsider.

My father glanced briefly over his shoulder and then perfectly matched his steps to walk in line with me. I kept my eyes forward, not wanting to hear his obvious lecture on how I shouldn't try and attack my mother in a public place. Over the years, his ham-fisted lessons on my growing, enhanced abilities had become the bane of my existence. It had got to a point where I had been terrified to even shake hands for fear of breaking someone's arm. My mum had put an end to it all, claiming what would be would be, anything was better than a half-panicked child scared over whether she may or may not kill someone when she was trying to do the shopping.

The silence stretched between us as we continued to walk. Our similar gaits matching perfectly. Finally, I felt the air shift next to me as my father prepared to speak. An auspicious moment.

'Your mother's been driving me mad getting ready for your arrival. Apparently, a month to prepare wasn't nearly long enough.' His deep monotoned voice was familiar and unwelcome all at the same time.

'What was she doing?' The surprise at not being scolded and lengthy sentences made me confident about delving deeper.

'Getting a surprise ready for you. I'd watch out. Knowing your mother, it's never something subtle.'

A snort of laughter escaped me, and I felt the shock flash across my face. There was a heavy pause as I watched my mum and brother load my bag into the sleek black Audi. Then my father laid a large hand on my shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze.

'It's good to have you back Seren.' He said in a low voice before moving off to the driver's door. I stared at him in astonishment. That had been a very rare display of emotion from my apparently closed of father.

'Get in then Seren bach.' My mum chirped at me. I pulled a face as I slide into the back seat next to my brother.

'Ma, I'm 23. Please don't call me that.'

She twisted around from where she was in the passenger seat as my father started the car. Reaching out she pinched my cheek in a deliberately aggravating way.

'Oh, you'll always be my little star, honey bunch.'

I felt the place where she had pinched me heat up, but not from the pain. I sank into my seat, folding my arms across my chest like I used to as a teenager. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Rhydian grinning from ear to ear. I levelled a deadly glare at him, channelling my inner dad into my eyes. I'd make him pay later for smirking at me, preferably with a few bruises. Then I caught sight of a very similar glare in the rear-view mirror and I resolved to plan a much subtler revenge.

* * *

The farm was exactly the same. If the world changed at a pace faster than most could handle, if technology was now overtaking our need for it at an alarming rate, if all the wars and fluctuating politics ever got me down, I could count on Bryn Ddu farm always remaining exactly as it was since I last left.

As we drove up the one lane track from the village I saw a distant flock of sheep on the hillside. Memories of herding them with my mother flashed through my mind's eye. I had loved to help on the farm as a child, but as the awkward, identity disrupting phase of my teens hit, the willingness to muck out horses and wrestle ewes had died off bit by bit. Sometimes I felt myself longing take off across the scrubland again, usually on my beloved pony Ghost with Bran, the shaggy sheepdog by my side. I had been a regular country girl. Then the longing past and I became grateful for my busy, city life.

'Now when we get home I don't want you going anywhere near the barn. Is that understood Seren?' Her tone was stern but there was a joviality to it that betrayed what this was really about.

'Of course, ma. Don't go near the barn. Got it.' I replied in a weary voice.

Again, those cold blue eyes flashed to me in the mirror, but before I could read them they were back on the road ahead. We continued on in silence until we were through the thick forest that ringed our farmland and headed towards the small collection of rough, grey stoned buildings that made up the farm itself.

Nostalgia pricked at me as I felt myself craning forward to look at it. This was the place I spent the first 7 years of my life and consequently grew up in. It was where me, ma and Uncle Rudy lived a simple, if not slightly restrictive life style, but it had been all I had known. Until he showed up. I may not enjoy coming here but I still had an emotional attachment to the place.

The car came to a stop outside the old farmhouse and at once a cacophony started somewhere across the yard as two dogs came dashing towards the car. Mum got out first to deflect the welcoming committee. They fell upon with wagging tails and lolling tongues. I recognised one, a black and white sheepdog called Tegwyn who had replaced my lovely Bran. The other was an anomaly. A large St Bernard that towered over Teggy and really had no place on a welsh sheep farm.

'Who's the newcomer?' I asked, getting out of the car. Teggy quickly detached from my mum to come and give me a perfunctory hello, although markedly less enthusiastic than my Bran's would have been. The St Bernard however gave me a distrustful look, unsure of my scent and probably aware of my underlying danger, as most animals often were.

'This is Edison.' I raised a single eyebrow. A trait I had picked up from my father and had never been able to shake.

'Edison?'

'Rudy named him.' I looked at my brother who shrugged by way of reply.

'Still a science nerd then?' I said, taking my bag and dragging it towards the house. I could feel my brother's disgruntled glare burning into the back of my head. Unfortunately for him winding him up was one of my favourite past times whilst at home.

My room was as I had left it. Like everything else in this place. I placed my suitcase next to my bed and collapsed onto it, even though I was barely tired from the journey; one advantage of being a genetically engineered super human. I listened as my family moved below and let my eyes wander over the various posters and ornaments I had collected over the years. My father had brought me back something from every 'work' trip he went on, just like a regular dad who travelled would. The only difference was what he was doing on those trips definitely didn't involve spreadsheets and conference calls.

I closed my eyes and let my heightened hearing focus on the conversations downstairs. I didn't usually like to use my abilities if I could help it, but a lot of the time I didn't realise I was doing it; like when I had tried to attack mum. Her voice reached me now as I lay quietly above them.

'I'm just asking you to go easy on her. We haven't seen her for a year and I don't want her running for the hills the minute she's finally back.' A long pause.

'I wasn't aware I was doing anything other than going easy.' My father's cool monotone answered. He always sounded like he was talking to a stranger instead of his own wife and children.

'I know you don't mean to do it, but you've always been harder on Seren than her brother. You're just trying to look out for her, I know, I know but the girl has a limit…and so do I.'

'I'll try to do better.' Came his clipped response. Typical.

'Thank you. Rudy, can you lay the table please.' She raised her voice on the last sentence and I heard an irate grumbling coming from another room.

'I've just started soldering the circuits ma, can it wait?'

'Rhydian, lay the table. I won't ask you again. That robot can wait, not dinner.'

I rolled my eyes even though they couldn't see me. Rhydian had turned into a textbook teenager in my absence. At least mum didn't have to deal with his freakish strength whenever he disagreed with her. Chagrin flooded through me as I remembered the way I had acted when I was his age. God, this visit was turning into a regular roller coaster of emotions. Sometimes I envied my father for being so closed off.

I stayed strategically out of the way, the sounds of the house fading in and out of my attention – I didn't want to eavesdrop on them all evening. Slowly the smell of my mum's home cooking reached me and I couldn't help my mouth watering, anticipation making me excited. It had been a long time since I had tasted her stew. I sensed dinner was ready before she had even called it and had to stop myself from flying down the stairs and earning myself a disapproving look from them both. She was just calling us all when I appeared in the kitchen doorway.

'Dinner's ready, everyone come and – oh, Seren, that was fast.' I waited for the look of shocked worry to clear from her expression before taking a plate and ladling some stew onto it deliberately slowly. That hadn't been the fastest I could move but I guess time apart muddied people's memories. Speaking of muddied memories, my annoyingly tall brother was next in line, skirting round me to pile his plate high with stew and nab at least six slices of bread.

'Hey, gormod. Put some back, you're not a duck.' Rhydian gave her a surly look before reluctantly giving up three slices. Mum still didn't look happy but I could see she wasn't going to fight it. He left the kitchen, the tense atmosphere that preceded a parental fight dissipating with his absence. My eyes drifted of their own accord to the small scar above her eyebrow. That had been a souvenir from when I had rebelled against my mum. I had only been 3 but the butter knife I had thrown had left its mark all the same. I could feel my cheeks heating up with shame of the memory. Without another word I ducked my head and left the kitchen.

We sat at the dining room table. The picture of a perfect family. My father and brother ate in typical silence and I wasn't really in the talkative mood, still pining over my adopted home. Mum chatted away for all of us. I could see my brother struggling to ignore her, irritation bubbling just under the surface. My father ate as if he was the only one in the room, although now and again he would adjust his position slightly when mum did something he wasn't expecting. In a small way it was evident how much they were bonded; moving in sync often times and gravitating towards one another without noticing it. But from an outside perspective my father would have appeared cold and distant to his partner.

'So how is Vienna cariad? Does it look amazing with the Christmas lights?'

I blinked, in a daze, realising my mum was asking me a direct question. The room fell silent as her constant stream of chatter was broken, waiting for my response. I cast a glance around the table at my brother and father; the former was still eating away determined to ignore his embarrassing family as much as humanly possible, the latter however had paused, his intimidating gaze fixed on me.

'Um…I guess it does.' I began tentatively. 'Vienna always looks amazing from my point of view so it's hard to say if it looks better or not this time of year.' I tired adding a weak smile, hoping this simple answer would be enough for my precocious mother. It wasn't.

'And what about the orchestra? Are they keeping you busy? I barely hear a peep from you when you're there.' A pang of guilt hit me as I looked at her wide, eager brown eyes. I really hated myself sometimes for how I had distance myself from my mum particularly. She had been the one to rescue me from a life of killing and blind obedience after all.

'Yeah, they do. We have a lot of concerts throughout the year and if we're not performing or rehearsing we're travelling around the country.' My mum's smile widened as I drip fed her tid-bits from my life. I felt my father's gaze lower slowly as I continued to answer. Evidently, I had been under judgement whilst he waited for me to answer my mother respectfully. My brief moment of guilt evaporated as I shot a pointed look at him. Mum tensed beside me.

'So, any young men caught your eye yet? I hear the Austrians are quite the gentlemen.'

That brought my attention snapping back to her. 'No. No men. None at all.' My words shot in sharp staccato bursts, the pitch of my voice bordering on supersonic. Now everyone's eyes were completely focused on me and I could feel my cheeks beginning to burn under the scrutiny. Even my chirpy mother, who acted oblivious to what she was saying most of the time, sharpened her attention on me.

'Are you sure? You've gone a lovely shade of red cariad. You're almost matching the curtains.' She said smoothly, her expression with odds with her gentle tone. It felt like she was gearing up for an interrogation.

Oh crap.

'I'm sure ma. Like you said, I'm too busy spending all my time at orchestra so no time for boys – I mean men – I mean…'

'I assume the Vienna Philharmonic allows men as well as women to join, so you must spend some time with the opposite sex.' My father's cool monotone cut through the awkward atmosphere like a precisely thrown dagger. My mum shot him a triumphant smile, then turned back to me with a wolfish look in her previously innocent eyes.

Double crap.

'Yes, they do, but…look, we don't have much time to socialise and when we do we just talk about music, and really most of the men are either married or taken, and even if I was seeing someone, which I'm not, I wouldn't tell you because you'd just all scare him off by picking him apart and looking at him like one of your targets, like you're doing to me now!'

I sucked in a heaving gasp of air after my rapid-fire outburst. Silence settled on the table like dust after an explosion. My mum was the first to move. She blinked, her expression the picture of a mortified mother.

'Seren bach. We're just curious. And of course we wouldn't scare him off.' She glanced at my father who was still staring at me suspiciously, his look dark. 'Would we dear?' She asked him pointedly. When my father didn't respond I saw my mum's body jerk as she aimed a hard kick at him from under the table. My father, for his part, didn't break eye contact with me but instead let out a barely audible grunt.

'No.'

'You see?' I gave my mum an incredulous look but her smile didn't waver.

'Fine. But there really isn't anyone. _Promise_.' I shot this last word at my father who slowly raised one eyebrow in response. Insufferable man. No wonder I had no interest in a love life with an example like him.

Rhydian had remained silent through all the drama, the only one nearly finished with his food. He tilted his head quizzically at me now, his eyes - although not as hypnotising as our father's or as razor sharp as mum's – were focused on me with a single-minded intensity.

'So, if there's no man, maybe there's a woman?' I turned the full force of my murderous glare onto my brother's stupid grinning face.

'Rudy, don't tease your sister.' My mum scolded, but my brother was having none of it. He had hit a nerve and he couldn't help tweaking at it.

'Come on ma, it's a valid question. We have to explore every possibility when trying to find the answers.'

'I am not one of your fucking science experiments nerd.' I hissed at him through clenched teeth.

'Seren! Language!' Mum's voice was rising now, but much like my brother the red mist had descended and there wasn't much I could do now to stop it.

'Yeah Seren. Don't want to corrupt my poor innocent mind now with your lesbian ways.' A feral snarl ripped up my throat and I was on my feet before I could think.

Everything seemed to slow down to a crawl as the adrenaline coursed through me, switching on the underused parts of me I preferred to forget existed. A small voice in the back of my head whispered that I should calm down even as I closed my fist around the knife, but all my senses were zeroed in on my infuriating brother and his mocking grin. I'd wipe that smile off his face, the little bastard.

Faintly I heard my mum exclaim as I raised my arm to aim it squarely at his head. It wasn't a sharp knife so it wouldn't kill him but some unbidden, animal part of my subconscious told me exactly how much it would hurt and my body thrilled in response. My mum was frantically speaking to me in an effort to calm me down but it was too late, I had my target and I was taking the shot.

I was vaguely aware of her abrupt shout of, '47!' And then the one person I had foolishly not kept track of in the room was by my side as if he had materialised there. A strong hand wrapped around the wrist holding the knife and twisted it painfully at a 90-degree angle. The other snaked around my neck and tightened like a boa constrictor, restricting my air flow enough to hold me but not suffocate. My father held me on the edge of choking, my back and arm screaming in pain as he refused to let go. I knew better than to struggle and eventually my hand loosened and the knife fell to the floor with a harsh clatter.

There was a moment of tense silence, then my mum seemed to deflate in her seat. Her eyes shining as if on the verge of tears.

'Oh Seren.' She murmured. I remained tensed against my father, the animal part of me still trying to work a way out of this. But my logical brain had regained some semblance of control and I relaxed against his hold. Sensing my submission he let go, giving me space to catch my breath but still staying unnaturally close in case I decided to go crazy again.

Once the oxygen and excess adrenaline had worked its way out of my system I straightened up and took in the scene before me. My mum about to cry, her shoulders sagging where she sat, my brother his hands gripping the table, half stood, his eyes bright with excitement but no smile on his face. He looked terrified. And my father towering over me, his expression deadly as he watched me carefully massage my now aching wrist.

'Apologise to your brother.' This came not from my mother but the man stood next to me. He may have been wearing a faded plaid shirt and worn jeans, the wrinkles around his eyes might be more prominent and the frown lines around his mouth deeper but he looked every inch the deadly assassin he used to be. It was as if he was looking at an intruder that had broken into his family home and threatened them all at gunpoint, not his own daughter. Not his near identical clone. Or maybe that _was_ what he was looking at. A perfect copy, as sleek and dangerous as he was.

I could feel the tears coming even as I forced myself to look at my shaken brother - who I had never threatened like that in my life - and mumbled a despondent, 'Sorry.'

Then without further provocation, as if I was 13 not 23, I slunk away from them and up to the exile of my room.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Apologies for the long wait for this one but I wanted to get a few chapters in hand before I continued this story. That coupled with a rather busy Christmas meant this took longer than intended. Anyway, enough excuses, I'm here now with not one but TWO chapters. Hope you all had a good holiday and New year and as always, read, review and enjoy! :)**

Chapter 2

The clock said it was 1am but I couldn't get to sleep. I lay tangled in my bed sheets, my limbs itching with an agitated energy. I didn't want to leave the solitary sanctuary of my room but I also really, really wanted to run. Run through the house, out the door and across the vast night darkened scrubland of the farm. Away from everything that happened. Away from myself.

Instead I contented myself with getting up and sitting at the small desk in my room. I switched on the desk lamp and surveyed the cluttered surface. There were a few discarded books from the last time I had visited. To Kill a Mockingbird, a few Harry Potters and my well-thumbed copy of Dylan Thomas poems. It had been the only thing I had let my mum and Uncle Rudy read to me when I was a child. Carefully, I brushed my fingers over the worn cover, letting the memories sweep me along. A painful lump formed in my throat and I decided maybe reminiscing wasn't going to help me calm down. Besides, I was too keyed up right now to focus on reading.

I picked up a notebook stacked to one side of the books instead and began to flick through it absentmindedly. It was one I'd used when I was younger, to draw and write in. Mum always said it was a good way to get emotions I couldn't understand out, on paper. Made them less scary, she had said. Mum had been scared tonight. She had used my father's real name. We both knew about his past – me more than Rhydian – so it wasn't a revelation, but mum tended to use his adopted name, the name he had signed on their marriage certificate. Tobias. Occasionally she would slip, in moments of heightened emotion. Or terror.

I paused on a page with a childish drawing of a girl playing a piano. This must have been when I first started playing on the old piano forte Mum had rescued from the attic. At first, I had just hit the keys at random enjoying the loud, resonating sound they made – and the fact it disturbed Rhydian - but then my father had returned from whatever 'business trip' he had been on and had taken offence with the racket I was making. He made me listen to his collection of classic music then instructed me to repeat by ear. Whereas his rough lessons involving my physical abilities annoyed and upset me, this was something different. To everyone's great surprise, especially his, I took to it like a duck to water. Within the year I had reached grade 8 at boarding school and was already marked as a future prodigy.

Music was an escape. It didn't judge me, or require me to be a highly bred killing machine. It brought happiness and inspiration to those listening to it, not death and horror. It let me pretend to be something I wasn't for a time. Normal. Suddenly my itch to run morphed seamlessly into an insistent familiar need to play. I glanced again at my clock; 1:30am. If I was quiet I could manage to expel some of this nervous energy in a much more constructive way than running wild across the countryside at night. Besides, I needed the practice.

Noiselessly I opened my bedroom door and ghosted downstairs. Another big plus in the GM human department. Added to that I knew every creaky floorboard and dangerously loud door in the house, I made it to the living room without a single sound. I paused briefly in the doorway to the room, straining my hearing to see if I really had managed to make it down here unheard. Nothing out of the ordinary moved in the farmhouse, its occupants were still soundly asleep. Even my hyper alert father.

Closing the door behind me with a soft click I turned and surveyed the living room. I didn't need any artificial light to see but I turned the table lamp on anyway. It gave the room a soft orange glow which made the rustic wood and mismatched furniture look even more homely. In the stove there were the last glowing embers of a fire that had been in there earlier, and the Christmas tree which stood decorated in the corner was dark but still reflected the warm light back at me. It was the picture-perfect family living room.

Ignoring the cosy scene, I focused on the old upright pushed against the far wall. Its worn mahogany wood shining, the yellowing keys inviting me over. I took a seat on the stool and laid my fingers on it, they stood out white against the aging ivory. Pressing my foot on the middle peddle I gently lowered the mute rail, muffling my playing so as not to disturb my family. Mum had installed it when she had given up trying to stop me from practicing at all hours and waking up my brother.

I sat there for a moment, breathing deeply, savouring the anticipation before I played. Sometimes it was better than playing. Feeling the audience tremor with excitement as they waited for the first note to be played. My attention was caught by the dark ring around my wrist where my father had grabbed me earlier. Already it was fading, my heightened healing working to erase any evidence of the mishap. It would take longer for the memory of it to fade though. In the past it had been my playing that we had bonded over the most. When he was instructing me in combat or controlling myself I felt belittled by the more experienced man, but when I played we were on equal terms. A proud father watching his daughter. Drawing in a breath I let my fingers flow across the keys and tried, just for the moment at least, to forget.

Chopin's Nocturne in E flat major echoed out softly from the instrument. I always said that making music was like making magic. I could summon songs and concertos from thin air, weaving notes together to excite or enchant people. To bring them to tears or joy. It had always been a pride of mine; where my father could influence life and death, I had learnt to influence human emotions.

My hands flowed onwards, recalling the music automatically. All at once I felt the spell begin to work its effects on me. The homely farmhouse faded around me and I was drifting in a void, the music surrounding me. My favourite moment of learning a piece was when I had committed it so much to memory I could drift away with the music itself as I played. No longer needing to think where to put my hands next. I lost all awareness of time and where I was as I played. The events of earlier fading like the bruise on my wrist, the energy that had crackled through me before dissipating with every phrase. For one brief joyous moment I was back in Vienna in the Musikverein performing for an enraptured crowd.

Then the door creaked open and the spell was broken. The music came to an abrupt halt and snapped my head round to see who had walked in on me. I felt my muscles relax as I saw my mum's cautious face in the doorway. A shy smile on her face.

'Don't stop for me,' she said in a whisper, 'I like listening to you play.'

I turned back to the piano but my need to play had vanished at the sudden appearance of my mum. 'I didn't mean to disturb you. Sorry.' I muttered.

'You didn't.' She said as she moved into the room, shutting the door behind her. 'I couldn't sleep.'

'Is…' I began, straining to hear anyone else approaching but my mum as usual was one step ahead of me.

'He isn't awake.' She walked slowly towards me, her steps cautious as if she were approaching a flighty animal. 'Your dad is in one of his rare deep sleeps.'

I relaxed slightly but my expression was still guarded as she came to a stop a few feet from me. Even seated I was nearly at eye level with her and I could see the multiple emotions swimming behind those brown eyes. I had been prepared for my father's cold, indifference but my mum was a whole other matter entirely. I could already feel the guilt and shame I had managed to bury begin to surface as I looked at her.

We stared at each other in silence, the unsaid words between us building up like flotsam. Eventually my mum closed the distance and wrapped her arms around me, laying her head on top of mine.

'Seren, what's the matter?' I didn't move to hug her back, the shame inside me making my arms heavy. Instead I sighed into her flannel covered shoulder, the sound amplified in the ringing quiet left behind after my playing.

'I-I don't know.' I offered lamely. Mum pulled away and gripped my shoulders as she looked down at me.

'You don't visit, you hardly talk to us and when we do finally see you it feels like you want to run away. What have we done to deserve this kind of treatment cariad? I just want to make it right, whatever it is.'

I swallowed thickly as my mum's heartfelt plea hit home. Why was I so distant? It wasn't like they were involved in their old business. They had retired whilst I was still at boarding school. Why did I insist on running from them even now? I thought back to how I had felt earlier coming back from the airport and then sat around the table after listening to their inane conversations upstairs.

'I-just find it hard.' I began tentatively. Mum didn't say anything in the pause, using her well-honed trick of letting the silence do the talking for her. 'I don't fit in with you. You and Rhydian and my father…you just look so good together. So comfortable. And then I come along and I just feel…odd.' It came gushing out with little provocation from me. Yes, that was it. I felt like an outsider. Like an anomaly; and it made me remember that, in actual fact, I was.

'Honey, you _are_ part of this family. Please don't think like that. You are my daughter and I love you.' The lump that had begun to form in my throat when my mother hugged me began to swell. The uncomfortable prick of tears making me blink as I looked at her.

'But you treat me differently.' I drew back from my mum's grasp unable to bare her this close. 'I bet you don't have to worry about Rudy suddenly attacking you when he tries to hug you, or that he might lose his temper and throw a…'. I trailed off unable to finish. My eyes flicked to the scar on my mother's forehead. She noticed my attention shift and closed her eyes, sighing herself now.

'Seren, you were three. And tonight, well, you're human. You can't help getting angry at your brother, that's what siblings do, fight.'

'Yes, but they don't throw knives at each other.' I muttered bitterly, fighting back the tears.

She shrugged, 'I don't know. Some might.' Her mouth turned up as she shot a sideways look at me but it quickly fell when I didn't respond in kind. 'Look, I know your dad can be a little…odd with you but he's just worried for you. He wants you to have a better life than he did.'

'I'm not a killer am I, and some part of him must have enjoyed it to keep going so long even after the ICA disbanded.' She gave me a funny look, guilt mixed with awkwardness, but it was gone before I could read it properly.

'It's all he knew Seren. You must understand. He didn't have a shot at a normal life like you.'

A bitter laugh burst from my mouth. 'Normal? Is that what I am? There's nothing normal about me. Every day I have to check myself, check I'm not walking too fast or lifting too much. You asked earlier about boyfriends, well truth is ma I can't get close to anyone for fear I might break their necks by accident or worse, they see how much of a freak I am and run for the hills.'

My mum's lips tightened into a thin line as she processed my confession. It was true of course. I was paranoid about everything I did, instilled in me by my dear father. He had been the one to warn me against getting too close to people when I was emotional. He had tried to put those walls up so I didn't expose what I really was. Without saying a word my mother pushed herself next to me, forcing me to shift over so she could sit on the piano stool as well. She wrapped an arm around me again, pulling me against her. I'd give my mother this, she had never been afraid of me. Even when I struggled to hide who I really was.

'Now listen here, you are my daughter and I want you to have the life I imagined for you when I found you 22 years ago. You are a good person Seren and we all love you. We made mistakes, all parents do at some point, and yes we are a bit unusual as a family.'

I snorted at this and my mum chuckled with me. 'Okay, we are completely crazy as a family but we don't let our past define us. _Any _of us. Especially you. Is that clear?'

I looked down at the piano keys, my fingers still splayed on them. I had taken those hands, that had been made for killing, and turned them into something else.

'It's hard. I was told so often to be careful when I was younger, and there was that time I…you know, when we were trying to get you back.' One of my blackest memories clawed its way into my consciousness. I had tried to block it out but sometimes it would creep back in to haunt me.

Mum rested her free hand on mine, covering my fingers with her warm, slightly wrinkled ones. 'You acted in self-defence. You're older and more in control now.'

'I wasn't earlier.' I muttered, my eyes drawn to my mum's half missing little finger. A souvenir from _her_ more violent past. She gave my hand a squeeze.

'You weren't going to kill your brother Seren.' I gave her a sharp look.

'He certainly acted like I was about to.' She knew who I meant.

'He was stopping you from doing something you'd regret.' I narrowed my eyes at her, annoyed at how much she was trying to excuse everyone's behaviour. But then again, that was she had always done. Diffused and negotiated. Smoothing over all the drama and disagreements in our less than conventional household. A born handler even now. She let out another sigh at my silence.

'I know you're angry but try not to punish yourself. Rhydian will get over what happened and I know your dad is already past it. I've seen enough things in my time to know if you try to run away from something it will catch up with you eventually. In my case, wearing a sharp suit and a red tie.' She smiled, her eyes twinkling mischievously. She moved her damaged hand from mine and gently gripped my chin, forcing me to look her in the eyes. 'If you keep denying that part of you exists then you'll only ever be half a person cariad. Your Aunt Victoria did that and she suffered for a long time because of it.'

I frowned, unsure why my mum was bringing up my childhood confidante now. She let her hand drop and push back a loose strand of hair behind my ear. 'Try and get some sleep now and don't worry about it.'

Suddenly I felt bone tired. The emotional talk with my mother having drained me completely. Getting up I moved toward the door, her words echoing in my head. I was just at the door to the living room when my mum's voice stopped me.

'Seren, Mae'n ddrwg gennyf.' _I'm sorry. _Her voice was soft and sad. And I couldn't bear it.

I wavered, trying to keep the emotion out of my voice, like he did. 'Fi hefyd.' _Me too. _Silence. Then…'Rwy'n dy garu di.' _I love you. _I said before leaving her sat alone by the piano.

* * *

Victoria had been on my mind since my mum had mentioned her. I hadn't spoken to my adopted aunt for a long time but things had been different when I was a teenager. Our similar starts in life had drawn us closer together, and often when I had been at a low point I had talked to her for advice. It was a funny situation as when we had first been thrust together we had not got off to a harmonious start. Victoria had been bitter and angry that people were still creating enhanced humans and her guardian had ended up being at the centre of it.

However much I complained about my occasionally icy upbringing, it was better than what Victoria endured under Diana's care. At first, she had been motherly and caring, risking everything to free her from her creators. But after the dust had settled and Victoria was finally safe, thanks to my father, the relationship had begun to crumble as she struggled to contain her instincts. I could sympathise, my only saving factor had been how young I had been when my mum saved me. Victoria had been a teenager grown when Diana discovered her, I had been only 1. She regularly told me that was why I found it easier, but she wasn't completely right. I struggled too. I had struggled last night.

I had only slept for a few hours after I had left my mum downstairs. Now I was sat at my window, watching the rising sun begin to stain the clouds pale pink and orange. The empty yard and its surrounding houses were still in shadow, the hills circling it shielding the farm from the breaking dawn, keeping it in temporary night.

As I watched, the kitchen door opened and leant back instinctually as my father left, his farmer's clothes on, Teggy the sheepdog dutifully trotting over to start the day's work.

It was almost farcical at times seeing him like this. Once an unrivalled assassin, now a respected and sought-after security advisor, but on his off days he was just a sheep farmer living with his family in the welsh mountains. I mean, if anyone met him or got a close up look at him they wouldn't be able to marry the tall, well-built bald man with a life of shearing and tractor driving but as my mum had said last night, we were completely crazy. An anomaly.

My father didn't notice me watching him as he readied the quad bike and drove off, or at least he didn't let on that he had noticed. As the sound of the thunderous petrol engine disappeared over the rapidly brightening hills I looked down at the phone in my hand. I had been debating whether to send the text I had written for over an hour.

_Hey Aunt Vic. Not spoken in a while. Back at the farm for xmas and already causing drama. Are you in London still? Could I visit on my way back through in a week?_

It was hard to say where Victoria would be. She spent most of her time travelling the world now, she never really said to us what she did but our family knew not to pry. She owned a town house in London which I had visited once, I didn't know why the urge to talk to her was so strong now. She had always been hard to contact, she liked to stay 'off the grid' as mum put it. Phones kept to a minimum, only emergencies and emails she only responded to once in a blue moon. Occasionally she would show up at the farm, I think she liked the isolation, but it was never planned. I didn't know if this counted as an emergency, it certainly felt like one to me. This return home had made me regress in more ways than I cared to admit.

My finger pressed the send button and I let out a long sigh. Within the minute I had received a reply, the buzzing phone in my hand making me start.

_Of course. I'm in London until next month. Everything okay? V_

I quickly thumbed my response.

_Not sure. Feeling lost. Needed a neutral voice._

_You can speak to me, but not over the phone. Let me know when you're back in town and I'll meet you. V_

Paranoid as ever then. The sun had finally reached the farm house and I closed my eyes as the light blinded me. I could hear the rest of the house waking up; my mum moving about in the kitchen, my brother walking down the stairs welcomed by the skittering paws of Edison on the hard wood floor below. A warming wash of orange and red lit the back of my eyelids and I thought about just staying here until it was time to leave.

But my mum was shouting up for me now, like I was a child that needed calling for breakfast and I knew my parents wouldn't let me wallow for much longer. Besides, I preferred to tackle the awkward atmosphere without my father's cold stare. Heaving a sigh I pocketed my phone, the promise of Victoria's counsel bolstering my mood, and slowly made my way downstairs to my family.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Christmas moved by without another mishap. My mood was still distant and I felt my father keeping a closer than usual eye on me during my stay. My mum typically moved on as if nothing had happened and my brother treated me with the same teenage indifference he treated everyone with. However, the events of that first night had soured the whole affair and I felt myself longing to return to my completely separate life in Vienna on a daily basis.

One day my father had had to go into the city to do some work. His job still managed to take him away from the farm even now. I had been surprised but relieved to learn both my parents had decided to retire from their life of danger, death and corruption when I was a teenager. I knew my mum had found it easier than him, taking up her passion of photography again and occasionally freelancing as a cyber security consultant. All of her photos were now displayed around the house. I had my favourites, one was the peregrine in flight she had captured near one of the cliff-faces on the coast. It's grey and black plumage shining in the light, its talons tucked in against its body as it dived for its prey. She had won an award for that one. My father had adjusted less smoothly. It had taken a few close calls and lots of persuasion from my mum for him to finally throw in the towel an take the job as a security advisor. It definitely hadn't improved his mood.

Christmas day came and it began as all of my mornings did on the farm, with the sound of the quad bike disappearing up the hill and my mum's shouts a few minutes later for breakfast. Coming downstairs I found my brother already at the table, a very happy looking Edison eating something that had been dropped on the floor. I regarded my sibling as he remained oblivious to my presence, a bacon sandwich in one hand – minus a few rashers – and a screwdriver in the other. He was absorbed in his work too busy to acknowledge me as I sat opposite him; his work being a small four-legged robot that he had been working on since I had arrived here.

'Still not done with that? I thought you were meant to be a tech genius.' Rhydian glanced up at me, his gaze hard, then without a word resumed his screwing. I felt my mum's disapproving look from the edge of my vision and my resolve softened. It was Christmas after all. Maybe I should extend the hand of peace. I leant a little across the table to get a better look at what he was doing.

'What is _it _exactly?'

This time he gave me a longer stare, suspicion evident on his face. It made me guilty and sad at the mistrust I saw. We had always struggled to get along and as I was mostly at boarding school in the early years and he too once he was older, we had always been quite distant. Maybe I should have tried harder with my brother.

'It's a prototype for an android assistant.' He mumbled, his tone guarded. I looked at the odd four-legged design again, trying to decipher how it could assist with anything at all looking like that. He noticed my confused expression and pushed the robot towards me.

'The design means it is stable moving on uneven surfaces and I'll put a gripping device here.' He pointed at the front of the contraption where an empty space filled with wires currently was. 'Once I get this approved I'll be able to work on a full sized one.'

'Full sized?'

'About the size of Edison.' I eyed the humongous St Bernard sceptically.

'This is quite the hobby.' Rhydian gave me an odd look.

'This is homework.' He retorted. Realisation clicked.

'For St Michael's?' He nodded, his mouth pulling slightly tighter at the mention of our shared boarding school. 'How is that place? Still stuffy as all hell?'

My brother's tense expression eased at my little jibe, a grin threatening to break through his defences.

'Yeah.'

'Mr Beacham still an arse?' Now he did grin, all wariness towards me vanishing.

'Yeah, some of the boys put magnesium shavings in his tobacco store before we left. That should get his new year off to an interesting start.'

I snorted, the thought of that iron pole of a man going to smoke his pretentious pipe – he swore by it even though it was 2041 and hardly anyone smoked anymore - and finding a mini-fireworks display stuffed into it made me childishly happy.

'I hope you didn't have anything to do with that.' Our mum's voice snapped us out of our comradery. She was stood watching us, her hands on her hips in a very disapproving way, however the barely supressed glee in her eyes cancelled out the threatening stance. Rhydian gave me a knowing glance.

'Of course not. I'm a model student ma.' Now both of us were grinning widely. The false sweetness exuding of my brother would have been easily spotted by a normal person, let alone a highly preceptive genius like my mum. Her eyes narrowed at us both, unamused with our mocking of poor Mr Beacham but unable to hide her happiness at seeing us bond over something.

'Hmmm, well just make sure you don't get caught.' She said, winking at us, her grin as broad as both of ours. We laughed and I shared a look with my little brother. An unsteady alliance having being built we chatted pleasantly over breakfast, Rhydian absentmindedly fiddling with his homework. For a moment I actually felt myself enjoying being a family. The awkwardness and isolation I had put myself through seemed almost ridiculous sitting there, around the worn kitchen table, eating bacon sandwiches and laughing with my mum and brother. Then my father returned from tending to the sheep and the atmosphere shifted instantly.

It didn't matter what was going on, or how innocent or mundane a moment it was, my father always entered a room as if it was potentially going to be his last. I could see his eyes scanning the situation even as the rest of his body froze in the doorway. Looking for exits, looking for advantages, looking for threats. His gaze settled on me and even though it flicked away again faster than anyone else could see, I knew it had rested on me for a beat longer than the rest of his assessments. The heavy mixture of guilt and sour anger materialised back in my stomach as if my happiness had traded places with it.

'Stop letting in the cold air will you.' His stiff posture softened at the sound of my mum's irritated command. With smooth, controlled movements he stepped into the kitchen and shut the door behind him. He gave us a blank look then began taking off his mud caked boots to place them by the door.

My mum was the first to move after his dramatic entrance. Going over and kissing his cheek like the loving wife she was. It comforted me a little to see his expression lighten at her gentle touch, a faint patch of red blooming under his snow pale skin on the spot where her lips had been.

'Merry Christmas.' She said.

My father gave a curt nod and a low grunt as reply. I guess the concept of Christmas was still foreign to him. He gave her a pained look but conceded with a subtle roll of his eyes and his own light kiss on her surprised mouth. The effect on my mum was a lot more dramatic, her face lighting up like a beacon. She tried to hide her girlish smile as she sat down again, passing him his breakfast as she cheerily announced the plan for the day.

'Right, if you're done hand me your plates and make yourself scarce. I have a lot of work to do in here today and the last thing I need is you lot under my feet.' She looked pointedly at Rhydian but he was absorbed in his wiring. 'We'll do presents after lunch and then we've got chores on the farm. Any questions?'

'No.' My brother and I replied in chorus. My father just gave her a disgruntled look which wasn't well hidden. Mum aimed a playful swipe at him, he dodged with it ease getting up and taking the dishes from her. I got up too, following my brother as he took his project into the living room, Edison the St Bernard following faithfully behind him.

'What happens to him when you're at school?' I wondered aloud.

'Ma takes care of him obviously.'

I eyed the shaggy ball of fur on legs and the way it looked up at my brother adoringly. 'He seems close to you though. Isn't it hard, you know, being apart?' My heart twisted painfully at the memory of my own four-legged companion. Bran had been everything to me as a child. I had missed him enormously when I had been sent off to boarding school and had been inseparable from him when I returned. He had been my ally and friend but it had been more than that. Bran had been a gift from my father and back then that had meant a lot to me.

I watched as Edison curled himself around Rhydian who had now seated himself on the floor, his nose buried in his work. It felt almost cruel that my parents had sent him to the same school as me. When I had been his age they had still been involved in the shady underground of their old job, so keeping us away from the farm had been a good idea. I would have thought as soon as they had retired they would have transferred Rhydian to the local high school and kept him nearer. Having said that the separation from them didn't seem to be affecting him as much as it had me; from the outside anyway. It had always been hard to read my brother at times.

We sat in companionable silence. A rare event. It seemed in my old age I was becoming tired of the drama that came with sibling rivalry. I had been jealous to the point of insanity of Rhydian. The little miracle child that had divided my mum's attention. The bond between him and my father had always irked me as well. Plus the fact he had been made through more…traditional means. Now I was uninterested in their approval it was easier to look at my brother objectively. He was definitely talented with technology. Even as I watched he flicked a switch on the robot and it whirred to life, its legs peddling in mid-air as he turned it this way and that, examining his work.

'Might need adjustment on the main axle. Let's see how it moves.' He muttered, more to himself than to me.

Setting it down on the coffee table the thing took off at a pace. It weaved between the bits of clutter smoothly, the legs swivelling to counter balance as it navigated the table.

'Looks good to me.' I said, leaning forward to watch as it came to a stop at the edge.

'The front sensors are working well, but I've had some trouble with-' As he spoke the robot turned and tried to make its way back across the table but there was a mug in its way. It took a step back to reposition and abruptly toppled off the table. My hand shot out and caught the machine easily. 'The back ones.' Rhydian finished.

He gave me a strange look as he took the robot from my outstretched hand. The uneasy atmosphere threatening to ruin this brief moment of peace. Then his eyes flashed up to doorway. I didn't need to look, I could sense him stood there.

'Your mother wants a hand with something Seren.' I let my hand fall and stood slowly.

'Keep working on it. It's good.' I shot at my brother as I turned and headed towards the kitchen.

* * *

'I think I'm dying.' Rhydian groaned, clutching his stomach dramatically.

'You're not dying.' My father said, his tone completely dead pan. Rhydian sat up slightly and gave him an equally dead pan expression.

'Actually, I could be. There are reports of people dying from a ruptured stomach after eating too much. There was even a case of a man, who's oesophagus burst because-'

'Enough.' My mum snapped, 'I will not have that kind of talk around the table thank you Rudy, much less at Christmas.'

Rhydian slumped back in his seat, disgruntled at having been cut off mid-sentence. 'I was just stating that it _was_ possible to die from over eating.' He muttered into his chest. I saw the faintest shadow of a smile on my father's face as he pretended not to hear.

'Help me clear up. That might sort your stomach out.' Mum said, her own smile fully on show for everyone to see. Rhydian made a show of getting up but soon settled into his task with the same all-consuming determination he had shown towards his robot earlier.

I had returned to the living room once I had helped my mum, but the moment I had shared with my brother had gone and I felt almost awkward trying to reignite it. Still, what I had experienced had made me hopeful that maybe I could start to repair some of the damage I had done over recent years.

'Who wants presents?' My mum announced in her usual exuberant way. She was the exact opposite of my father and that was why they were so perfectly matched. She practically bounced as we sat around opening the few gifts we had got each other. Despite the high paying jobs both my parents possessed we were always modest with what we gave. It was something my mum insisted on and something my father had no objection to. He had the same old Audi he had owned when he had met my mum. A man of routine she would always say, but I could see the assassin in him. A man who could fit in anywhere and not stand out. People who bought elaborate trinkets stood out.

'There's one more thing.' She said, her eyes shining with anticipation. I felt my stomach drop as they settled on me. 'But we'll need to go outside.'

The memory of her cryptic instruction to stay away from the barn resurfaced and I suddenly wanted to throw up. What had she done? I threw a searching glance at my father and what I saw did nothing to quell my nerves. He had the same stony expression he always wore but there was something hidden behind it. A wariness that didn't match the situation.

With heavy steps I followed my mum outside, my brother and father trailing behind us. The barn loomed over us in the cold sunlight, casting a shadow over the farm yard and us as we neared it. Mum kept looking back and smiling at me, excited to give me my surprise, something any normal person would be happy about. Then why did I feel like I was walking into a trap.

She stopped outside the closed doors and signalled for me to wait. With a ridiculous grin on her face she slipped into the barn and I stood awaiting my fate. I had an uncanny ability to sense danger before it happened and although there were no threats anywhere near this place I felt the familiar tingling under my skin; a signal that I should be ready for something. I could almost taste the strange tension building in the air. Glancing over my shoulder I gave my father a questioning look, he folded his arms that same wariness in his pale blue eyes. The barn door opened again and my mum came back out, the grin still fixed in place.

'Okay, close your eyes.' She demanded. I rolled them instead.

'Really ma? Can we just get this over with?'

'What fun would that be? Close them cariad, I promise no one is going to attack you.' I grimaced at her indelicate choice of words but obliged anyway. The feeling of being trapped only intensified as I felt her hand grip my shoulders and steer me blindly forward. I could still hear extremely well and was aware of Rhydian and my father following behind as they had before. The barn door creaked as she pushed us through it and I could feel, as well as hear, the hay rustling beneath my feet. The strong musky smell of sheep hit me but there were no sounds of them moving in the barn, it was empty of livestock, the scent merely an after image.

Mum tugged on my shoulders to bring me to a stop. I judged we were now roughly in the middle of the barn. There was a soft glow of orange playing across my closed eyelids meaning it was a lot lighter in the barn than it would normally be in natural daylight.

'Open your eyes.'

The barn was festooned in fairy lights that lit it up like a damn Christmas grotto. The sheep were indeed missing, their pens empty and the large stack of hay that was usually in the middle of the barn had been moved. In its place was a gorgeously sleek and black Yamaha grand piano, its cover open, as if waiting on the stage of the Vienna opera house. I took a hypnotic step towards it, my jaw nearly brushing the straw covered floor. I was still in a daze when the cold reality of what I was looking at hit me like a bucket of icy water.

'So, what do you think cariad? Do you like it?' I whirled around to look at my family and felt a stab of guilt as my mum recoiled from the less than pleased expression on my face.

'Why did you get me this?' I asked, suspicion colouring my tone. Mum frowned, throwing a worried glance towards my father before replying.

'We thought you'd like an upgrade on your old one. The people online said it is the best concert level piano you can buy. Don't you like it?' The guilt festered as I watched her previous excitement crumple into hurt confusion. I tried to soften my approach but it was hard to push aside the ominous feeling in my gut. This was a lot more money than they usually spent on me and like most things with my family, they did everything for a reason.

'Of course I like it, but where am I supposed to keep it? It won't fit in my apartment.'

Mum looked at my father again and now I was 100% suspicious. They were keeping something from me. 'Well…me and your father have been talking and we decided to help you get a new place in Vienna. You know, give you a leg up the ladder.'

'I told you I didn't want to move when you asked me last time.'

'This place is lovely cariad. It's in a new development and it's got good links to the city…'

'I live in the middle of the city now.' The suspicion was giving way to irritation. My mother was far from ready to drop this.

'Go and look at it when you're back. Promise me you'll at least consider it.' I narrowed my eyes. Something was off here. My mum only ever pursued something with this much ferocity for one reason; if we were in danger.

'What's going on here?' I said, flashing a hot look at my father. He stared back at me, impassive as ever, but that wariness I had spotted before was now extremely noticeable in his cold blue eyes.

'Nothing. I just want the best for you.'

'Well I'm fine in my old apartment. Thank you for the piano, it's lovely, but I can't take it.'

An uneasy silence settled over my family. Rhydian shot a confused look between my parents who were stood on either side of me. The trapped feeling increased until it felt like I was being crushed under its weight. I had to get out of here.

'Seren, it really is lovely. I'd be very happy if you looked at it.' My mum's voice was quiet but there was a firm edge to it. I shook my head, trying to clear it.

'I need to lie down.' I muttered and I made a break for the door.

Bursting out into the cold air I took in a deep breath. The temperature hadn't been that different in the barn but it had felt stifling. Wanting to put some distance between my family and that weird situation I had just been put in I strode towards the house. I couldn't shake that desperate look my mum had given me, as if my life depended on excepting her unsolicited gift.

A strong hand suddenly closed around my wrist and I felt my body react instinctively to it. Planting my feet, I spun round, my fist already heading towards my assailant's head. Another large hand caught my attack and held me firmly in place. Letting the red mist clear I glared up at my father as he regarded me grimly.

'Let go of me.' I hissed and when he didn't oblige my request I attempted to free myself. Years of experience however told me to quit almost as soon as I had started. Even with my superior strength there was little I could do once my father had got me in one of his holds.

'Take the apartment.' He said, his tone as cold as the winter air.

'Oh, I see. So ma was good cop and now you're playing don't fuck with me cop.' My words dripped acid despite my less than dominant position. His eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. This was about the time 8 year old me would have buckled and apologised for whatever I had done, but I wasn't 8 anymore. 'I'm not moving without good reason.'

I tilted my head, expectant. Without a word my father released me and I stepped back, still watching him for his reply. I didn't expect much. Out of the two of them he was the least likely to open up to me. However, I saw his expression soften just for a moment and a look of genuine concern to pass over his usually granite hard face. My stomach tightened and I felt my pulse kick up a gear. That brief moment of weakness had scared me more than anything had in a long time.

'Just do as your mother asks…please cariad.' Okay, now I was freaking.

'What's going on dad?' I croaked, my mouth had gone dry. He shook his head. Still no explanation, just the hope of blind trust. I didn't need him to tell me the details, I knew enough from the way they were both acting to put two and two together. I took another step back, anger coursing through me.

'You're working again aren't you?!'

Silence. Stony, unyielding silence as always. But I saw the infinitesimal shift in his right eye. The anger in me was white hot and freezing at the same time. 'You promised you were done. You promised.' To my chagrin I felt tears begin to drip down my cheeks and I continued to back away from him. My father made no attempt to stop me now. His secret revealed and my mum's ploy uncovered.

'Seren, listen to your mother.'

There was no emotion in his voice, nothing of the concern I had seen moments before on his face. Even if there had been I was too far gone to care.

'No. She didn't listen to me when she went back on her word. What about Rhydian? Who's going to keep him safe?'

My little brother, discarded in some far away boarding school, and now I knew why.

'Victoria is keeping-'

'Victoria! She's in on this too?' I could no longer think straight through the torrent of hurt and betrayal I was feeling towards my family. The tears were obscuring my vision but I knew I was nearly at the farm house. I would pack and get the village taxi to come and get me out of here.

'Your mother will explain. Calm down.' Those last two little words finally broke me. They weren't said with any concern for me but for what I was about to do. I heard them over and over through my childhood. _Calm down before you break that chair, calm down before you make a scene, calm down before you hurt your mother._

Well, I had been calm this morning. When we had been the closest thing to normal I had ever known us. Now I knew that had all been a lie. That my parents were jeopardising us and themselves, killing other people for money. With a last howl of rage I turned from my father and ran into the house.

I wasn't sure if he would pursue me but I ripped through my room like a woman possessed. Stuffing my clothes haphazardly into my suitcase I dialled for the only taxi company in the nearby village. The woman on the other end told me apologetically that it would be two hours before it could get to me. I barked a more than curt fine back at her and gave her my pick-up location. I had banked on it not being a quick getaway but I'd be damned if I'd sit here and let my parents try to win me over in that time.

Gathering my things, I made my way to the door. The house was still empty, how long had I been up there? I couldn't have been that quick. Were they all still outside? I got my answer as I flung open the door and saw my father exactly where I had left him in the middle of the yard. Only now he wasn't alone. My mum stared at me with pleading eyes, her mouth pulling into a pained line as she took in my suitcase.

'Cariad please don't go. It's Christmas.'

I couldn't meet her gaze directly, knowing my resolve would weaken. She had been my hero and saviour for most of my life, but that didn't mean she was perfect. 'You promised.' Was all I could manage. Her face crumpled in my peripheral vision and I knew I couldn't stay any longer. I didn't want to be part of that world that had made me. I wanted to live a peaceful life. I wanted that for them too, but it was obvious they were passed saving. I cast a guilty look back at my brother. The innocent in all this. He was stood behind them, a perplexed expression on his face.

I blocked out my mum's continued pleas as I walked swiftly away from the farm and out towards the woods. My pace unrelenting. After ten minutes I risked a look back. The farm was smaller now. Toy sized, nestled in the dip of the hills. I couldn't see anyone in the yard from here. Maybe they had gone in, maybe they were still stood staring after me. I didn't hear the familiar sound of my father's old Audi so no one was pursuing me.

I slowed my pace as I continued walking away from my home. The dark woodland that surrounded the family farmland looming larger before me. Once it had been a great mystery what lay beyond it. Then I had seen it and understood why my mum had kept me from it all. The dark underbelly of humanity, where people's lives could be traded for money. But through all the death and fear I had forged my own life and hoped they would do the same. Obviously, I had been gravely mistaken.

**A/N: Hey all, I know I haven't updated this for a while, but I'm working on another story currently. I fully intend to get back to this once I am done, but apologies for the delay. On a side note, can't wait for the new Hitman game next year XD. Hopefully it won't be too long before I am with you all again. Until then stay safe and keep reading! Monty :)**


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